Do a Little Spurring!
It is the last football game of the season, we are in the 4th quarter and the game is tied. A time out is called. All eyes go to the cheerleaders who are lined up with pom-poms flailing. Smiles spread across their faces, a deep breath is taken: “Ready and…” Knowing what comes next, we all stand to our feet. “We have spirit yes we do, we have spirit how bout YOU!” We all become excited, our yelling becomes louder and LOUDER. We are now ONE, we ARE the LIONS! Liken to that of a swarm of bees we huddle our voices with such intensity we explode over the rival team on the other side of the stadium.
You can see it and feel the excitement can’t you! This is what the writer of the book of Hebrews is trying to portray when he encourages, “Consider how we may SPUR one another on toward love and good deeds” (10:24, emphasis 
mine) Ok, so we may not want to imagine Paul in a cheerleading sweater with a big ‘J’ on his chest, yet this speaks with wording that could indeed incite such excitement. Prior verses exhort us in our personal faith and hope, now we are admonished to look to others, cheer them on to love. The triune graces of the Christian character, faith, hope and love.
I love that word ‘spur’, sounds a little dangerous doesn’t it. But before any ‘spurring’ is to take place we are called to ‘consider.’ The King James words it, “And let us consider one another …” It literally means to ‘take notice.’ Ever been speaking to someone and you know they are not paying attention, whether looking you in the eyes or in attitude. We are no longer doing that, we diligently acknowledging our brothers and sisters, are we looking AT them, noticing THEM, regardless of their imperfections and our differences.
Spur, to stir up, provoke, to encourage someone to action or feeling. In addition, my lovely geeky resources add, “It is the endeavor to excite one another.” Like that of a cheerleader, may we encourage in such a way that we get others EXCITED to love God and love our fellow-man AND (we aren’t finished yet!) conduct our lives in beautiful behavior. Jesus says, “Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other. Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are My disciples.” – John 13:34-35 Just like the cheerleaders at the football game, exciting the crowd to be one, BE the LIONS, 
so we too are cheering each other on, we ARE the CHRIST FOLLOWERS! Now LOVE and let your behavior be GOOD! As one scholar noted “There is no danger that Christians will ever be excited to love each other too much, or to perform too many good works.”
Need more motive? The opposite of this verse, renders the idea of being quiet and still. What if that person who spoke love and strong encouragement into YOUR life … kept quiet, or the one whose actions caused great healing for you, were to keep still?
How are YOUR cheerleading skills?
SPUR on folks!
In Him, DeDe (“Let us consider how we may spur one another one towards love & good deeds” – Heb. 10:24)
Walking the Deck
I sat quietly reading in my comfy chair when my son called out rather energetically. “Mom hurry I NEED you!” As I came into the living room, he hands me a controller to Playstation, like I know what to do with it! Excited, he begins to yell out commands, which I assume I am supposed to be following. I took a seat and thus begins the hysterical game playing. I was laughing so hard, I began to wheeze, tears were filling my eyes, the controller nearly falling out of my hands as I bent over.
We were playing Star Wars, he kept saying “Follow me!” I was TRYING! I didn’t know which buttons to push, so I pushed them ALL. Somehow I was
supposed to get my man up on that scooter thingy. Much to MY own amusement, I kept crashing into trees. My job, as I found out later, was to be a distraction so his guy could finish his mission. Before I knew it, Matthew says, “Ok, you can stop now” – had I even begun? The theme to Star Wars came on and I knew he was victorious.
Amazing what part we play in others lives isn’t it? That reminds of those massive ships in the military. One in particular is an aircraft carrier. There is a department that is lovingly called the ‘Yellow Jackets’ (Flight Deck Officers). These are men and women who, yes, wear yellow jackets and spend much of their time directing pilots as they prepare to take off and in their landings. One of their duties is known as ‘walking the deck’. As a pilot is either preparing for take off or landing, they and many other personnel, line up across the deck and slowly – meticulously look for any debris. The debris if left on the flight deck could be very hazardous to the plane, pilot, the mission.
I find it very interesting as I liken it to our own relationships found in the Kingdom of God. We have many roles we play in others lives: Cheerleader, counselor, confidante, mentor, teacher and friend. But we are also to ‘walk the deck’ if you will and do our part helping to remove any debris or obstacles along the way. Do lovingly what it takes to help another to be successful. We are called to encourage. Much of the time our encouraging a brother or sister takes … ‘action’.
Paul shares in, 1 Thessalonians 5:11 “Therefore encourage one another and build each other up.” ‘Encourage’ meaning ‘come along side, to aid with help.’ Here’s a dandy – ‘to beseech with a stronger force’. NOT to be confused with the theatrical big screen over used, ‘Force’ mind you. We are to admonish, exhort to better things, cheer each other on in God! He then says, ‘build each other up’, in the King Jimmy it is ‘edify’. Paul is talking in architectural terms. We are constructing. NOT demolishing! Do our words, our actions help build others up, does it motivate them to better things? Or do we blow them off the deck with our harmful words, our motive selfish, holding back so we shine brighter. (OUCH!) When we leave their presence, with the help of the Holy Spirit did we leave them in a better heart condition?
May we too, put on yellow jackets (in spirit of course) link arms with another and join the heavenly forces. May our words of encouragement be met with our actions of love. May we love enough to point out, pick up, and remove any debris. I am fully persuaded there WILL be times when it is messy, times when we get a bit of jet fuel dumped all over us, but Beloved, it is worth it! To see them… soaring! Perhaps we too would hear the theme to Star Wars, well personally I prefer the theme to ROCKY! (queue instrumental song in your head)
Walking the deck with and for others.
In Him, DeDe (“Let us consider how we may spur one another towards love & good deeds.” – Heb. 10:24)
Walking the Deck
I sat quietly reading in my OH SO comfy chair, when my son called out rather energetically. “Mom hurry I NEED you”. As I came into the living room, he hands me a controller to Playstation (like I know what to do with it). He begins to yell out commands, which I assume I am supposed to be following. I took a seat and thus begins the hysterical game playing. I was laughing so hard, I began to wheeze, tears were filling my eyes, the controller nearly falling out of my hands as I bent over.
We were playing Star Wars, he kept saying “follow me!” I was TRYING! I didn’t know which buttons to push, so I pushed them all. Somehow I was supposed to get my man up on that scooter thingy. Much to my own amusement, I kept crashing into trees. My job, as I found out later, was to be a distraction so his guy could finish his mission. Before I knew it, Matthew says, “Ok, you can stop now” – had I even begun? The theme to Star Wars came on and I knew he was victorious. My job was finished there.
Amazing what part we play in others lives isn’t it? That reminded me of a show I had seen. It 
was a documentary on those massive ships in the military. One in particular was an aircraft carrier. They focused in on the department that had been lovingly called the ‘yellow jackets’ (Flight Deck Officers). These were the men and women who, yes, wore yellow jackets and spent their time helping direct pilots as they prepared to take off, and in their landings. One of their duties was known as ‘walking the deck’. Knowing a pilot was either preparing for take off or landing they would line up across the deck, and slowly – meticulously look for any debris. The debris if left on the flight deck could be very hazardous to the plane, pilot, the mission.
I find it very interesting as I liken it to our own relationships found in the Kingdom of God. We have many roles we play in others lives, like cheerleader, counselor, confidante, mentor, teacher, and friend. But we are also to ‘walk the deck’ if you will, and do our part helping to remove any debris or obstacles along the way. Do what it takes to help another to be successful. We are called to encourage. Much of the time our encouraging a brother or sister takes … ‘action’.
Paul shares in, 1 Thessalonians 5:11 “Therefore encourage one another and build each other up.” ‘Encourage’ one another. Meaning ‘come along side, to aid with help.’ Here’s a dandy – ‘to beseech with a stronger force’. We are to admonish, exhort to better things, cheer each other on in God! He then says, ‘build each other up’, in the King Jimmy it is ‘edify’. Paul is talking in architectural terms. We are constructing. NOT demolishing! Do our words, our actions help build others up, does it motivate them to better things? When we leave their presence did we leave them in a better heart c
ondition?
May we too, put on yellow jackets (in spirit of course) link arms with another and join the heavenly forces. May our words of encouragement, be met with our actions of love. May we love enough to point out, pick up, and remove any debris, while doing so, we flag them off as they take off soaring to their mission. I am fully persuaded there WILL be times when it is messy, times when we get a bit of jet fuel dumped all over us, but beloved it is worth it! To see them… soaring!
May we love enough to build up, not tear down. May our ‘come along side’ be motivated to help shape another. Shaping them into the image of Jesus. Great take offs and landings! Perhaps we too would hear the theme to Star Wars, well personally I prefer the theme to ROCKY! (queue instrumental song in your head)
Have a God-loving, looking good in yellow ~ week.
In Him, DeDe (“Let us consider how we may spur one another on towards love & good deeds.” – Heb. 10:24)
The Coveted Pink Ticket
We all love rewards, whether it be an actual item or verbal expression. Bring on the “att’a boy” or “way to go girl.” At work we have been using incentives to motivate behavior. I am a Quickbooks Specialist, (my day job) I have the privilege of listening to the tech support agents calls. You know that fun little recording “This call maybe recorded for quality purposes” Yep, that’s me. I document the calls, then at times sit face to face with the agent and coach them. What an opportunity to encourage, build up and teach for growth. THIS is my favorite part of my job.
As of recent, I have been instructed that whenever I hear an agent ‘add value’ to a call, I am to give them a pink ticket. Each time they have a pair of tickets they can redeem them for a drink of choice from the boss’s desk (Red Bull, Starbucks Frappuccinos, Coke etc.) Some are earning chocolate as their reward. As you may expect, these are coveted pink tickets. This adding value can be as simple as sharing a quick (no pun intended) shortcut, or offering info that we know will enhance the use of the software for the customer, making their Quickbooks world even better.
I began to think about this in our daily lives, do we add value to one another? Do we offer encouragement, do we come along side and serve others? Does our presence enhance their
life experience, do we help make things easier for them?
Paul exhorts, “Therefore encourage one another and build each other up …” – 1 Thess 5:11 Those of you who are Lego lovers, this verse will fit well into your liking. It paints the picture of construction, the adding to, one piece fits to another, to build a form. When we meet with others do we leave a positive deposit in their lives, do we ‘add value’ to them, their goals, their dreams and their needs? Do we build up or tear down. (ouch)
We have been so conditioned in todays culture that ‘I’ stands for we are the center of the universe. We really don’t need anyone, ‘I’ can do this, and it is all about ME! How so very sad. “Two people are better off than one, for they can help each other succeed. If one person falls, the other can reach out and help. But someone who falls alone is in real trouble.” – Ecc. 4:9
Our smile to a bewildered cashier, our arm around a wounded friend, a written note to encourage, a timely phone call, a heart-felt faith-based prayer, a listening ear, even our quiet presence can – WILL add to another’s life. Our little deposit may be just the key to what they need!
Peter wrote: “… see that you love one another with a pure heart fervently.” – 1 Pet. 1:22 Fervently, how often do we hear that word these days in the context of loving each other? Do we strain or stretch for each other, not relax in our effort towards one another? Hm …
“Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things” – Phil. 4:8 As we think, and allow the Holy Spirit to work these in our lives … don’t stop there … share it with others, adding to their lives, one piece fits to another.
Anne Frank wrote, “How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.”
Help improve someones world TODAY! “Att’a boy” – “Way to go girl”, here’s a pink ticket!
In Him, DeDe (“Consider how we may spur one another on towards love & good deeds.” – Heb. 10:24)
Inspired Fountain 